Final answer:
The question is about calculating the final speeds and directions of two superballs after an elastic collision in a high school physics problem, using conservation of momentum and kinetic energy principles. It also erroneously asks for the thermal energy generated, which, in theory, should be zero for a perfectly elastic collision.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of this question is Physics, more specifically, it deals with elastic collisions in one dimension. Since it involves calculations of speeds and directions of objects post-collision, as well as energy considerations, it's a problem often encountered in high school physics courses.
To solve for the final speeds and directions of the superballs, we apply the conservation of momentum and kinetic energy, which hold true for elastic collisions. For momentum in the east-west direction (let's take east as positive), the total momentum before the collision must be equal to the total momentum after the collision. Likewise, the total kinetic energy before and after the collision must be the same because the collision is elastic.
The lack of any mention of thermal energy generation during the collision hints that, in theory, an elastic collision does not convert kinetic energy into thermal energy. However, in real-world scenarios, some energy is typically transformed into sound, heat, or other forms of non-useful energy during even an "elastic" collision.